BABIES the movie

Thomas Balmès’ BABIES is a Focus Features release that follows four children from Namibia, Tokyo, Mongolia, and San Francisco through their infant and toddler years. The result is truly fascinating. As an American mama, there are a few scenes to which I audibly gasped– a crawler in a goat pen, African villagers nursing each others children, a rooster in a newborn’s crib. There is no dialogue in the movie, but I found myself laughing and crying and wanting to wring a few mother’s necks as at times it seemed they were carelessly putting their children in harm’s way, exposing them to danger and disease. But then the scene would change from the Namibian child with his hand in a dog’s mouth to the San Franciscan child in a 5-point harness being “dusted” off with a lint brush, and I thought of how “normal” in the parenting world is incredibly subjective and all the more so when you factor in a host of other cultural conditions. If you are willing to keep an open mind, I recommend Babies to be added to your next Netflix selection. Once you’ve viewed the movie or if you’ve already seen it, I would love to hear your reactions.

As a side note: Several people have asked me about this months giveaway. You have until Halloween to enter to win a copy of our first CD The Surveil Project. Be sure to subscribe to my blog and to leave a comment. Happy Wednesday everyone!